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Follow on Google News | Walking With Headphones Through LifeBy: Order of Mercy However, as we see in today’s readings, allowing ourselves to become metaphorically drowsy or asleep can be disastrous for our spiritual lives. Three times we hear today that we must “stay awake.” We profess in the creed each Sunday that Jesus will come again. This Second Coming is something that we should long for as we prepare ourselves to meet God face to face. There is an expectation on the part of Jesus that His followers will be “ready”…”awake”… Pleasures and a blunt conscience Pope Francis’s recent Apostolic Exhortation entitled “The Joy of the Gospel” talks about how we can become if we do not have this “vigilance.” It is true that all of the Lord’s creation is good. However, its purpose is to lead us to Him and not become an end in itself. Filling our days with all kinds of activities: work, multitasking, texting, twitting, or walking with headphones through life. In all this noise the pope says, “God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades.” The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. Have we become apathetic and indifferent to God, who loves us into being? Stay awake for God Most people would consider themselves to be “good people,” but God is the measure of good and all goodness flows from Him. If we don’t know God we don’t know goodness. Those who do not have a real relationship with the Lord do not know how to love. It is only in the intimacy of a relationship with God that we learn how to love in a way that is self-sacrificing and unconditional. It is for this reason that Jesus asks us to be “vigilant” This Advent we must rekindle our relationship with God. This will mean putting aside some of our desires, gadgets and plans, to be with Him. When we can place ourselves in His presence it changes us. We receive a new vision on life. The ability to see the Lord who speaks to us constantly. Who is present in big and in the small aspects of life. Then, we will really be awake. Really alive and ready for whenever Christ comes. Fr. Joseph Eddy, O. de M., is a priest of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, or Order of Mercy. Fr. Joseph is the new vocation director of the order, and is a sign of a new vitality of this ancient group in the United States. You can visit their website at http://orderofmercy.org/ End
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